Stream One

Health workforce policy in Australia is shaped by both program areas (such as primary care or mental health) and jurisdictional boundaries. This produces a patchwork of separate policies and plans that operate simultaneously. As a result, changes aimed at a single profession or jurisdiction can have unintended, system-wide effects on the broader workforce. Although government reports and research have occasionally highlighted this complexity, there is still no publicly accessible clearinghouse of workforce policies or data. Nor are there systematic analyses that compare policies to identify overlaps, duplications, or gaps.

This stream of our work aims to address this gap by mapping the full range of federal, state, and territory health workforce policies. We analyse their goals and strategies in relation to workforce supply, distribution, and performance, and examine how policies interact, overlap, or leave critical issues unaddressed. This work is providing the first comprehensive picture of Australia’s health workforce policy environment, enabling a clearer understanding of whether current approaches are effectively tackling the country’s workforce challenges.